


She Comes By It Honestly

by IShouldBeWriting



Series: Mission: Ashkelon [4]
Category: Singularity North
Genre: Gen, Incorporating Historic Personages Into Fiction For Fun And Profit, Real Life Heroes, Would You Like A Side of Judaism With That Fic?, character backstory, historical RPF - Freeform, ט׳ באב | Tisha B'Av
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-06-09
Updated: 2013-06-09
Packaged: 2017-12-14 09:25:26
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 948
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/835335
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/IShouldBeWriting/pseuds/IShouldBeWriting
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Rachel and Davis get an unexpected insight into Lily’s past on the flight to Israel.</p>
            </blockquote>





	She Comes By It Honestly

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Hagar](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Hagar/gifts).



“Cut it out,” Lily snapped, smacking Davis’ elbow off the armrest of her seat. 

“For fuck’s sake, Lil, what’s got you so crabby?” He snarled back.

Rachel shook her head at Davis from Lily’s other side. “Give her a break Davis, she’s been fasting.”

Slightly mollified, Davis tucked the offending elbow back in on his own side of the seat and angled his body to better look at his teammate.

“I’m sorry, Lil, I didn’t know it was a holiday much less one of _those_ holidays. Must be pretty rotten having to fly on a day like this?”

Exhaling slowly and just a bit too evenly, the blond explosives expert turned toward him. “It’s not that bad actually. Just starting to get a headache is all. Sorry for snapping at you, mate.”

“If you don’t mind me asking,” he offered tentatively, “which holiday is it?”

“Tisha B’Av,” Lily responded and he watched as she struggled for a moment to come up with a proper English translation. “It’s the ninth day of the month of Av. A lot of really horrendous stuff throughout history has supposedly all happened on this same particular date. And so we fast.”

“What sorts of stuff?” Davis asked, his curiosity now genuinely piqued.

Lily stuffed the pillow she’d been using behind one hip and settled down more comfortably and Davis breathed an internal sigh of relief. Much as he loved his teammate, at times her temperment could be as unpredictable as British weather. He was thankful that this time it seemed like the storm had blown right past him. 

“For starters, both the first temple was destroyed by the Babylonians on the ninth of Av. Centuries later, the second temple was destroyed by the Romans on the same date.”

“How’s that possible?” Rachel asked from Lily’s other side. “It’s a hell of a coincidence.”

“The first time it was just happenstance. The second? That was a calculated move by the Romans to get the Jews out of Israel. They knew that by destroying that particular holy site on that particular date it’d be seen as an omen and the Jews would be demoralized enough to be kicked out with very little effort.”

“Nasty politics, that,” Davis opined. “So what were the other things that happened on this date?”

“The beginning of the first crusade, the Jews being kicked out of England in the 11th century, kicked out of France in the 12th century, kicked out of Spain in the 13th century,” Lily ticked them off on her fingers as she went. “Himmler was given the go ahead to exterminate the Jews on this date in 1941. And in 1942, the Warsaw ghetto in Poland was emptied out and all its inhabitants sent to a concentration camp.”

Still watching her, Rachel was puzzled by the fact that as she ticked off the last two calamities, Lily was smiling. It was a tiny thing; one corner of her lips upturned like one of Rachel’s favorite Dutch masters paintings. But the contradiction of smiling in the face of events historic events known to be so horrific? It confused her. 

“You’re smiling, Lily, and I don’t understand why. If so many bad things have happened on this day - enough to warrant a holiday commemorating it - what could possibly give you reason to smile?”

“History. And memory,” Lily offered, the smile growing just a fraction and at the same time turning wistful.

“Okay, I’ll bite, Lil,” Davis offered from her other side, “because we both know there’s a story in there somewhere.”

Lily shifted in her seat again, coming to rest with her head on Davis’ shoulder. That smile was still hovering, just a slight dimpling beyond the left corner of her mouth. Eyes closed Lily started. 

“My _saba_ , grandfather was Roland Robert Stanford Tuck[1](%E2%80%9D#foot1%E2%80%9D). Ever heard of him?” Both Rachel and Davis shook their heads. One eye cracked briefly to see their response, Lily continued. “He was a hot shot pilot with the RAF during the second world war. The concentration camp I mentioned where all the Warsaw Jews were sent? He wound up there too when his plane was shot down in a dogfight against a German Ju-88. But that was after having flown dozens of successful missions over the French coastline, fighting and getting shot down enough times to have earned the Distinguished Service Order.” 

“So, this holiday makes you think of him?” Rachel asked gently.

“That and the fact that we’re headed to Israel. My _safta_ , the grandmother that was his wife, she lives in Haifa. It’s where they decided to go after the war. They were the first members of my family to make _aliyah_.”

“He must have been very special to you, Lil.”

“Oh he was. Taught me how to climb trees and cut orange skins open to make them look like a lotus flower. I spent almost every summer with him and _safta_ as a child. Moved in with them when I was 16 and had to go back to Israel for my IDF service.”

“In which case, I wish we could have met him,” Davis said softly, “Sounds like was one hell of a bloke.”

“Just ask my grandmother about when my mom decided to become a _pakmatzit_[ 2](%E2%80%9D#foot2%E2%80%9D) … “

“I assume this means you’re dragging us off for a visit to your family while we’re in Israel?”

“ _Safta_ would hunt me down and torture me if I didn’t come see her when we’re going to be this close to home,” Lily muttered sleepily.

“I thought Andover was home,” Davis said with quiet uncertainty.

But the soft snoring from his shoulder told them that Lily hadn’t heard a word he’d said.

**Author's Note:**

>   
>  [ 1 ](%E2%80%9D#foot1%E2%80%9D)
> 
>  
> 
> Roland Robert Stanford Tuck was a real person and a kick-ass one at that. It’s well worth following the link to go read up about his exploits. Doing so also gives some insight into Lily’s character. With a man like him for a grandfather, its obvious that Lily’s love of danger is hereditary. 
> 
>  
> 
>   
> [ 2 ](%E2%80%9D#foot2%E2%80%9D)
> 
>  
> 
> Do a search for the term _Pakmatzit_ here for a brief explanation of the position. The short version is that it’s an Israeli Air Force Ops Clerk who specialises in managing aircraft movement in relation to Army airports. It’s a high-stress job. Yet more evidence that Lily comes by her traits naturally.


End file.
